Strike OpPose @ Barjeel Art Foundation

March 11 - July 30, 2011

A play on words of the expression “strike a pose”, the words “strike oppose” in conversation may sound like a command to model oneself for a camera snapshot, however on closer inspection the phrase comprises two words that denote resistance.

Almost everything these days is broadcast or communicated over the internet, TV or radio. Be it live news reports on natural disasters, the infidelity of a political official, an execution undertaken by terrorists, a panda sneeze getting 2.4 million hits on YouTube, or a 13-year-old’s RT #AWESOME coffee date with BFF @HotBunny15 – we are in a constant state of posing for or assembling in an audience.

The vast intake and exchange of all forms of openly sourced content is often uncritically accepted under a guise of reality. In this exhibition we examine how Arabs are both represented and projected in the ever-streaming flow of communication. The artworks inspect different forms of opposition or acquiescence to media, government regulation, kitsch and consumer culture, vanity, social taboo, injustice and mindless hogwash.

Location:
Maraya Art Centre - level 2
Al Qasba
Al Taawun Road
Sharjah

'Africa: See you, See Me.' in Italy

FONDAZIONE STUDIO MARAGONI
Firenze, Via San Zanobi 32r – 50129

Dates: February 17, 2011 – April 22, 2011

OFFICINE FOTOGRAFICHE
ROMA, Via Giuseppe Libetta, 1 - 00154

Dates: April 27, 2011 – May 31, 2011

Curator : Professor Awam Amkpa New York University


The exhibition, sponsored by Africa.Cont , explores the experience of African immigrants in Europe and offers new perspectives and frameworks of analysis in relation to its presence in Europe.

Through photography, the exhibition presents several stories of African migrants since its uncertain voyage from Africa to Europe, to multiple forms of engagement and building community ties in Europe.

With nearly 100 works that focus on communities in Italy, France and Spain, the exhibition will also give particular importance to some examples in Portugal, where the curator has established contacts with several photographers and associations working in geographical areas marked by the African presence.

Contemporary Practices

Photographic Art ZOOM - Portrait Special Issue

Article by Rosanna Checchi

ZAM Africa Magazine

ZAM Africa Magazine is an independent quarterly published in The Netherlands and a showcase of the talented journalists, photographers, designers and visual artists from the continent. ZAM Africa Magazine is inspired by a vision built in decades of solidarity and engagement with the struggles for freedom and independence. It is highly appreciated by a well educated, affluent audience in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Happy Few!

Since it is a fresh aquisition, "Saida in Green" will be included in the re-hang of the Phtograph Gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The new display will feature work fom the 70's to today, The Other Britain Revisited: Photographs from New Society

Hand painted digital C-type prints, with reclaimed tyre frame, 50 x 40 cm, 2000

Double Exposure in Arise Magazine

Editorial project in collaboration with: Nana Oforiatta-Ayim

Featuring: Kyei Boateng, Majda El Bour, Samson Soboye, Nathaniel Habtemariame Ghebretinsaye, Vanessa Mulangala,

Hassan' s pictures part of the Art Fund Collection

Following "Dakka Marrakkesh" Hassan's first solo show in London: Leighton House (2008) curated by Rose Issa: "Saida in Green" and "Jama Al Fna Angels" became part of the Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern photography at the V&A and the British Museum.

"Saida in Green": Hand painted digital C-type prints, with reclaimed tyre frame, 50 x 40 cm, 2000

"Jama Al Fna Angeles": Digital C-type prints, walnut and mixed cans frame: 93 x 129 cm, 2000

Hassan is in Marrakesh...

Probably busy eating some peanuts with his new friends... But mainly he went there to shoot Zahra!

From their previous shoots in London/Shoreditch (b&w), and Paris @ Andy Whaloo.

Hassan @ the Bamako Encounters

Hassan is part of the Bamako Encounters in the "Monographs" which focus on 7 artists and their particular visions of borders.
Statement
Hassan Hajjaj left Morocco to live in London when he was still an adolescent. Obliged to create himself out of both African and European references, in his work he puts together a multicoloured world in which the great Western trademarks mingle with Islamic traditions. On the borderline between the kitsch and the playful, Hassan Hajjaj plays with Orientalist references and stereotypes to reveal portraits of character behind the veil of the superficial. He thus questions our insatiable desire to set boundaries, making use of a sometimes sarcastic humour that enables him to raise the essential question of what makes identity.

Bamako Encounters, Biennial of African Photography, 7 Nov - 7 Dec

Held every two years since 1994 based on research work conducted all over Africa, the Bamako Encounters, Biennial of African Photography seek to promote regional integration and facilitate North-South cultural exchanges by creating an international cultural centre in Bamako that testifies to the wealth and vitality of the photography produced on the continent. These Encounters constitute an opportunity for exchange and dialogue enabling African photographers to show off their talents, to meet one another, and to reveal their works to the world. But they are also a window that enables the general neophyte photography public to get to know photography as a means of expression. This is, obviously, an international artistic and cultural event, co-produced by the Ministry of Culture and Culturesfrance.
Samuel Sidibé Delegate General of the 8th Bamako Encounters